Editing Battlefleet Gothic Armada (section)

===Eldar===
Do you enjoy losing? Then this is the faction for you! (He's not joking, this game is NOT Dawn of Eldar, that much is for trufax)

While this may be a slight exaggeration (no it's not.) the Eldar are one of the hardest fleets to play properly due to two rather glaring handicaps: 
* The first is that instead of shields Eldar ships get holofields. Holofields start off at zero strength and increase to 100% effectiveness over a few seconds as long as the ship is moving over half its top speed, and begin to wane in strength once a ship slows down. At 100% strength the holofield decreases the accuracy of enemy macro weapons by 80% and provides a flat damage reduction against lances. While this sounds good on paper the fact of the matter is that most ships put out so many shots that statistically a few are going to get through every time. Because Eldar ships lack the regenerating shields of the other races, and due to the fact that they have lower hull points and a racial ability that increase the chance for enemy ships to land a critical hit on them, their staying power is greatly reduced compared to the other races, as pretty much every salvo fired against them is going to cause lasting damage. It also means they are always vulnerable to boarding actions.
* The second is that Eldar ships mount all of their weapons on the front of their ship. This means you have to be facing the enemy to actually do damage, which greatly reduces your maneuvering options. There are upgrades that increase the firing arc of Starcannons to 270 degrees, but only for a limited time. Suddenly space Napoleonic navy doesn't seem so dumb anymore.

The other major problem is that Eldar, as in most of their vidya game incarnations, are a very ability/micro heavy fleet. Except that they don’t actually start with very many abilities, which means that until you can buy some Eldar ships are fairly underpowered. But because they are underpowered you can’t win fights, which means you don’t get renown, which means you can’t buy abilities. Its catch 22. IN SPACCCEEEE.

''Having said all that'', once you do get some upgrades the Eldar become downright scary. Eldar have the highest damage potential ''bar none'' in the game making them the definition of "glass cannon". They have the best fighters, the best ordinance and their basic weapons can decimate ships in a matter of seconds with the right upgrades. They are faster than any other faction by a fair amount which allows them to pick where the fight is gonna happen as well as zip around objectives like mosquitos.

There are a number of ways to build your fleet, but to start with it’s really recommended you go play against some bots on the lowest difficulty setting. Don’t take that as a comment on you or your skills, Eldar just play so differently it takes a while to adjust, and if you are losing every other battle more likely than not you will give up and go play Orks. The first thing you are going to want to grab are Stasis Bombs, probes and Augur Disruptors. Use the bombs to break up the enemy fleet so you only have to deal with one ship at a time, the probes so you can pick priority targets (that’s carriers and assault boats) and the disruptor so that whatever ship is left can’t detect anything. Try to fight near gas clouds so once you do hit something with the disruptor you can have your ships go stealthy without needing to use the running silent ability. Just keep moving, as the Aces High song says, run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die, fire your pulsars at convenient rates or get ships with launch bays so you don't have to maneuver your ships to target the enemy. Don't let yourself get caught or you are done. Remember to keep mashing the solar sails button, and that you don't have high energy turns or broadside weapons- so feel free to sail right past the enemy ships, and turn around in their rear arc before playing chicken over and over again. Don't get hit, and don’t forget the Eldar weaknesses: Bombers and Lightning Strikes ignore holofields, so having a bunch of fighters escorting your ships may be a good upgrade, Nova Cannons and plasma bombs/stasis bombs, etc will pulverize you so avoid getting in their path. Players will target your generators since without it's holofields an Eldar ship will crumple with a few shots from any weapon. Eldar ships have an upgrade to give them a free fighter squadron to make up for their painful vulnerability to bombers, be careful of torpedoes which may draw those fighters.

Don’t be afraid as well for your first couple of fights to take out one ship and then leg it. You need abilities more than anyone else, and until you get them you probably aren’t winning a fair fight, and a destroyed ship is a drain on your resources. Some of the better loadouts include Favor of Biel-tan (extra protection against boarding), Maxed out Spiritstones/Bonesingers/Eagle Pilots, and plenty of probes to reacquire target on any ship that attempts to hid from you by running silent.

Alternate take: Eldar have by far the best alpha strike in the game. When combined with their superior maneuverability, speed, and stealth, they are capable of isolating and instantly crippling, if not outright destroying, anything up to a cruiser. They can then disengage and repeat the maneuver. This applies to ranked and higher point games, where you have access to battlecruisers at minimum. The only counter to focused pulsar fire is the shield overcharge ability, and its cooldown is significantly longer than that of pulsars. Add to this the sustained harassment of eldar bombers, and the eldar are a fragile but dangerous faction, and if they catch a player off guard, they can destroy their ships frighteningly quickly. None of this applies to Eldar vs Eldar, which is a degenerate escort fight due to holofields.

In summary, DON'T PLAY FAIR! Your ships can't take it if anyone as much as looks at them funny, so do't let them. You have the fastest ships in the game and fastest turning speed and you can boost without being revealed to boot. Scout the enemy fleet, keep your distance, avoid torps and probes and zap anyone who comes uncomfortably close with an augur disruptor. And also bring nothing but carriers and upgrade your strike craft. At bigger battles, you can see cruisers melt under the weight of a concentrated bomber raid without as much as seeing you. Only get close if a ship gets separated from the pack, zap it's augurs, and pound the shit out of it with your glass canons.